They've made it a habit of denying him the ball, contesting his shots, sliding in front of dribbles, pressing him, trapping him -- and yes -- shoving him at every opportunity.

This was never more obvious than in Denver's 121-63 victory in Game 4 on Monday night at the New Orleans Arena that pushed its lead to 3-1 in the series. Paul, whose team faces elimination tonight at the Pepsi Center in Denver, scored four points and committed six turnovers.

"We want Chris Paul to feel like he's being blitzed, like he has a linebacker coming up the middle and one off the side," Denver Coach George Karl said. "He quarterbacked the team well in Game 3, and we didn't want to give him the same space in Game 4."

With the exception of Game 3 -- a 32-point, 12-assist Paul performance -- the three-prone Denver defensive attack has befuddled Paul, while keeping the Hornets' offense from finding its rhythm.

"I take all my defensive assignments personally," Jones said. "Guys have had to take different looks. They've had to take me, then Anthony Carter, then Chauncey. And it kind of messes with them a little bit. We are three different looks working in sync.

"We all have different looks, and that's a good thing. We have three different kinds of defense, three different mindsets, and three different guys playing hard. And that gets frustrating at times."

In Jones, the Nuggets have a 6-foot-6, 210-pound stopper, who appears to be making a name for himself in these playoff games. He's athletic with long arms and a nasty streak that has frustrated Paul and at times made the Hornets guard lose his composure.

In the series, Jones has preferred to guard Paul full court, bumping and pushing him during the inbound passes. He said his goal is to make sure Paul works every single second.

When Jones isn't in the game, Carter, the 6-2 backup point guard, usually gets the responsibility. He has mixed up his game plan on Paul, guarding him full court and half court. He's not as physical as Jones, but he has brought plenty of energy and fresh legs off the bench to stay in front of Paul.

"I want to make him work a little bit," Jones said. "You can't get too many steals off him because he handles the ball so good. But it's all about just making him work and use a lot of energy, because if he is going to play 48 minutes, he has to feel like he played 48 minutes. We just have to keep up the pressure and keep playing good team defense.

"It all started with Dahntay. Me and him had a talk before the game and said we were going to pick him up full court and make him work a little more. We thought we were a little soft on him the last game, and he was dribbling the ball up the court and not having to waste that much energy. So we wanted to try and deny him the ball, and I told 'Tay, when he was done, I was going to come in and do the same thing."

Meanwhile, the 6-3 Billups has relied on his veteran savvy to keep pace. Unlike, Jones and Carter, he usually allows Paul to bring the ball up court without any pressure, choosing instead to pick him up at the 3-point line.

Billups has tried to funnel Paul toward teammates who trap the All-Star guard or hurry his shots.

"I think Dahntay has been absolutely awesome in this series trying to compete and stay with Chris," Billups said. "Chris pretty much dominates the ball the whole game. It's a lot of pressure on him to make a play pretty much every time down for his team. It's a tough, tough mountain to climb when you talk about guarding him. And Dahntay has done an excellent job. When A.C. comes, in he's done an excellent job. We all play him a little different."

At the moment, they all appear to be playing him well.

For all the success Paul had during the regular season -- averaging 22.8 points and 11 assists -- he's been limited to 17.8 points and 10.5 assists in the series. He also has averaged 5.3 turnovers against the Nuggets.

"I'm trying to make sure that every minute I'm out there, whether it's five or 25, to play aggressive for those minutes and not worry about fouls," Jones said. "I'm going to play hard and try to have a defensive impact on the game."